Begin at the Beginning
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Begin at the Beginning

15 Mar Begin at the Beginning

Posted at 21:34h in Uncategorized by

There’s a sweet children’s book about a little girl named Sara whose teacher has chosen her to create the most important painting for the class art show. Sara agonizes over what to paint and decides that if it needs to be the most wonderful painting, she should paint the whole world — the day and night, the summer and winter and everything — she’s going to paint the universe.

Sara gets out her box of 24 watercolor paints, sets out brushes of all shapes and sizes, centers special white paper on her desk, and fills a green jar with water to rinse her brushes. Then she takes a deep breath and decides she probably needs a sandwich.  

It’s too hard to begin. 

She looks out at the tree outside her window, takes a deep breath, and then paints a circle to represent the earth. She scowls and decides it’s the worst circle she’s ever seen and it’s probably in the wrong place anyway, so she crumples up the paper. The discarded, crumpled paper grows in a pile next to her. She feels stuck.

Everyone has advice for Sara on how and what she should paint — and opinions that maybe she isn’t trying hard enough or maybe she is trying too hard.

She wonders if her paper is too small.

She wonders if her brushes are too big.

She wonders if her rinse water is too dirty.

In response to Sara’s growing frustration, Sara’s mother takes her in her lap and they sit together, looking out of the window. Her mother gently says, “Remember Sara, you can only begin at the beginning.” And with this simple wisdom, Sara knows where to begin. She paints the familiar tree outside her window.  

When we start something challenging, like Sara, the first story we usually tell ourselves is one narrated by fear and negative thinking: “I am not capable of this… I shouldn’t have been trusted with something so important… I’m going to let everyone down.” And in response to this internal chatter, we struggle and feel immobilized.

So how do we get started?

We begin by doing, even if it’s not perfect. 

We begin with the things we know for sure. 

We begin at the beginning.